


Worth It

by lachoy



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 07:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10212995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lachoy/pseuds/lachoy
Summary: Nicaise grows up and Laurent and Damen are there to see all of it.





	

Nicaise was the image of former prisoner. Malnourished, face gaunt, and a complete mess. Damen still couldn't believe that anybody could do this to someone who looked so young. How could you hurt a child? Then he would remember the Regent and how it wasn't above the man. Damen only wished he could have killed the man himself. 

Damen worried about the effect this had to have had on Nicaise. Being treated like this at such a young age, it seemed impossible for life to ever be normal again. But when he saw the light in Nicaise's eyes he knew that prison hadn't destroyed him. Nothing had destroyed Nicaise or the fire inside of him. And it was better he was alive, almost broken than not at all.

Damen saw Laurent's hand twitch, like he wanted to run and grab him. Hold onto something he thought he had lost. Nicaise obviously wanted the same thing, but much like Laurent, was too proud. And yet he didn't have the same experience of holding back as Laurent did and so he couldn't help it. Nicaise's eyes started to water.

“You really did come back.”

That was all it took. For Laurent to walk over and wrap his arms around the young boy, who would soon become a young man. To hold someone who understood him better than anybody else did. Damen simply looked on, staying where he was to let them have this moment. They needed it and he did not need to apart of it.

“I said I would, didn't I?” Laurent said quietly and then he hugged him tighter. It was not a sight that Damen had ever thought possible once upon a time, but now he knew how much Laurent needed this. Knowing that he had saved someone even if he had never been able to save himself. “Uncle said you had died, that he had made it public what would happen if they supported his traitorous nephew--”

Nicaise's hands were in the cloth of Laurent's shirt, grasping onto it like he needed to know this moment was real and not some dream or fantasy. 

Damen left the room, letting them be alone. Laurent could come find him when they were done.

\- - - - - 

A lot had happened to Nicaise. Maybe the Regent hadn't had Nicaise hung up to rot for the public to see or beheaded him for a crowd, but Nicaise had suffered. It was shown in the way his eyes darted at every movement, how he waited for people to turn on him.

Nicaise before had never been innocent. Damen knew now what Laurent had meant that his mind was no longer that of a child's. But he was different now, broken in ways that Damen could not possibly understand. Ways he could never break a person, but ways that Laurent did understand and Damen hated it.

At least, though, Nicaise had Laurent and Laurent had Nicaise.

\- - - - - 

As they lay in bed, Laurent couldn't sleep and Damen wouldn't sleep until Laurent finally talked about what he wanted to. Damen was good at this, he learned. Making Laurent open up which he never thought would be so rewarding.

“Can you stop staring?” Laurent muttered in that tone that meant he was trying to play at being stand-offish. It wasn't so intimidating anymore and Damen only kissed his forehead. Laurent sighed. “I've lost all manner of making you do as I say. I should have never fucked you. Now you think I'm soft.”

Damen only laughed. “A fool would think you're soft. I've done nothing of the sort. You can still make me do things you want. You just need different tactics, now.” He stayed silent for a brief moment and then continued. “What is it you're thinking about?”

Laurent didn't answer right away, he thought over his words. As he always did and always would. Damen knew that this would never change and Laurent would always need to be three—no ten steps ahead. Twenty if he could be. Laurent would always be thinking, always be calculating. It was how he learned to survive.

“I was thinking Nicaise could not be alive. It's very possible Uncle thought he wouldn't survive. That was definitely the point of sending him down to those prisons. Nicaise was not supposed to make it, but I am very much grateful he is still alive.”

A smile overcame Damen's features and he nodded. “I am too.” Not only for Nicaise's sake, but for Laurent's. He needed this and only now was Laurent realizing how much he did. Damen didn't want to think about what would have happened if he hadn't.

\- - - - - 

Laurent had made sure to treat Nicaise as if he was his family. It was touching, to see Laurent demand the very best for Nicaise. The best clothes, the best shoes, and even the best attendants. Nicaise soaked it all up, head high, and nose turned up. Damen thought he was getting a little cocky, he'd need to be taken down a notch, but for right now he thought he deserved this time in the sun. Only for a little while.

Especially since at night, in the dark, it was shown how very little light he had in his life as he often went to Laurent's room to ask for company against the loneliness night offered.

\- - - - - 

“Don't think that just because you're fucking him means I have to get along with you,” Nicaise told him one day while he tried to eat his breakfast. Damen had the food to his mouth when Nicaise just boldly said that. If this hadn't been the same boy that had stabbed him with a fork, he would have been more shocked. Instead he just put his food down with a sigh. 

“I don't expect you to,” Damen said softly, trying to show he didn't mind whatever Nicaise had to say. Patience was ey and he wanted to be as gentle with him as possible. “But for Laurent's sake, I hope you will try to get along with me. Maybe no more bodily harm done to me? It's all I ask for.”

Nicaise looked him over, as if trying to see if his kindness was a lie. It was reminiscent of Laurent. “You're too nice. I don't like it,” Nicaise decided after his assessment was done. He walked away and soon Laurent came out of his hiding spot, watching him as he left.

“I thought maybe his opinion on me might soften a little.” Damen didn't want to call it moping, but he was definitely moping that Nicaise still treated him as he always had.

Laurent sat next to him, taking a bite of what Damen was having. “Oh, it has. But he doesn't know what to do with you. You're nothing he's handled before.”

Damen frowned. “As an Akielon?” He knew that prejudices couldn't be taken away quickly. That would take effort and long years of trying to overcome them as they all took steps forward. But he didn't want to think that someone so important to Laurent would still dislike him based simply on that fact. That hurt.

Laurent shook his head. “No, as someone with kindness.”

That hurt even more.

\- - - - - 

It had been months since Damen had last seen Laurent. They had exchanged letters and if Damen had thought that Laurent was hard to read in person then through letters he was even worse. It was always hard to read what tone he meant and he knew that Laurent meant it to be that way. If someone intercepted their letters, of course. Laurent always played it safe and Damen knew he should appreciate that. He did.

But the one thing Laurent always made clear was how proud he was of Nicaise. How he was growing, how he was learning to read and write at an alarming rate. It didn't surprise Damen, Nicaise was clever. And Damen couldn't help but be proud too. Remembering that at one time, they had both thought Nicaise would never grow to his full potential. Thinking he had died as a traitor instead of the loyal and intelligent boy he was.

One day, though, in one of Laurent's letters he told Damen that Nicaise had begun to learn Akielon and was picking that up at the same pace as well. The next day he got a letter from Nicaise. It was short and simple, the kind of message one just beginning to learn a language would send.

_Get back here soon. Laurent is moping._

~Nicaise

\- - - - - 

It was proper and polite when Damen returned. Him and Laurent shook hands, smiled, and greeted each other as friends. Image was important in Vere. Even if Damen was sure the whole court knew just what their relationship was and that it was anything but platonic. 

Next to him was Nicaise, who had definitely grown. He was losing the childish roundness his face had held months before and the path to adulthood had begun for him. Damen could remember when Laurent had threatened him with the idea, how terrifying it had been to Nicaise to lose the only thing that gave him power: youth that a disgusting pervert had twisted.

“You look well,” Damen told Nicaise, smiling. He would do anything to get along with Nicaise. 

“You look--” He was going to say something rude, something vulgar, but Laurent looked down at him and that was all the reprimanding Nicaise needed. “You look well yourself, King Damianos. You came just in time for tomorrow.” His voice had begun to change, too. Just slightly.

“Tomorrow?”

“My fifteenth birthday,” Nicaise explained, looking away. “We're to have a feast or so His Highness tells me.”

\- - - - - 

The party was extravagant. Laurent had gone out of his way to do something nice for Nicaise and Nicaise, as hard as he tried to act as if this wasn't the truth, was happy. He enjoyed himself with all of his favorite foods and the gifts he was given.

Alone, he scowled to Laurent. “You just did that for your image. Can't seem like too much of a cast-iron bitch anymore, huh? Gotta show some sympathy to the boy whore, right? Win the public favor.”

Laurent didn't seem offended at all. “Oh trust me, Nicaise. I don't need you to make me look good at all. You're not apart of those plans and you shouldn't assume I'd include you in them anyway. The building of an impeccable reputation isn't in need of frivolous birthday parties.”

To anybody who didn't know Laurent, it would seem as if he was being incredibly rude. Especially to someone that had almost died just for his sake. But to someone who did know Laurent, as Damen and Nicaise did, knew that what he meant was that he had simply done it for Nicaise for no ulterior motive. Just because Nicaise deserved it and nothing less.

Simple, straightforward people would thank each other. Laurent and Nicaise were not like that. They liked to make things complicated with tricks and underlying tones. So Nicaise frowned and bowed. “Thank you, Your Highness.” It was said with contempt, sarcasm, and it made Laurent smile as Nicaise walked off. They were quite the match, Damen thought. A little too much like each other, but that was why they got along so well.

Damen laughed and when Laurent looked over to him with a questioning look, he remarked, “Perhaps you haven't grown soft, but you have definitely changed. For the better.”

“And I wonder who it is I have to blame for that?”

\- - - - - 

“Your language is such bullshit,” Nicaise said to him one day, seemingly out of nowhere. “I don't know why I have to learn it.”

“What's giving you trouble? Luckily for you, you have me who is completely fluent and willing to help.” It seemed like the perfect chance to get along with him. Nicaise didn't seem to hate him, but he didn't exactly get along with him. Damen wanted that to change. Nicaise was important to Laurent and so he was important to Damen. Even if he loved to talk down about his culture. 

Nicaise scowled. “I'd rather not have to learn it at all. I wouldn't have to if Laurent wasn't sucking your massive cock all the time.”

Damen was spared having to reply to that when Laurent showed up. Give it to him to have such fantastic timing.

“I think you're being much too kind to King Damianos here by saying it's massive and I think, perhaps, if you have time to be thinking about Akielon genitals then you have time to be learning how to speak about them in perfect Akielon.”

Nicaise walked off, angrily ranting about how unfair all of this was when Damen finally just groaned, completely embarrassed by what had just happened.

“Why does he do this? Why can't he just ask me about my hobbies or the weather? Does he enjoy making me squirm?”

“Very much so. It isn't hard at all.” Laurent put his hand on Damen's shoulder. “He still just doesn't know what to do with you. Give it time. Learn his heart slowly, as I think you said about me once?”

“You didn't say things like 'massive cock' to me.”

\- - - - 

It was a few months later, when Laurent came with Nicaise for a visit to Akielos. Nicaise was already looking like a man though Damen noticed how Nicaise still kept jewels in his hair despite not being a pet anymore. Maybe it was to remind himself and everybody of where he had begun? It was a mature message to send out and Damen was taken aback by how much pride it filled him with. When he could remember first meeting Nicaise and to seeing him now, it was such a drastic change. But a good one.

Laurent and him passed the usual polite political greetings, often reserving their other preferred words to each other for private. When it was Nicaise's turn, what shocked Damen was that he spoke in perfect Akielon. A few of the accents were off, but that was easily forgiven. It was so surprising that it took Damen a moment to reply in turn and he found it hard with how much he was grinning. 

Dinner was lovely and Nicaise kept to perfect dinner manners. He scowled at certain foods, but made no comments about them and ate them without much fanfare. But the thing that made Damen most happy was when Nicaise asked him if he could perhaps show him around the castle. It was almost stiffly polite, dinner had been a little like that too. It hit him that maybe Nicaise was forcing himself to do this. To try to like Damen and be nice and Damen wasn't sure if he wanted that. Laurent was insistent that Nicaise held no problems with him, but even Laurent was allowed to be wrong sometimes.

“You can stop doing this, you know,” Damen finally said after he showed him the gardens. Nicaise had been enraptured with the flowers there and he looked up at Damen, lifting an eyebrow. “I mean you don't have to be nice to me if you don't like me. Laurent and I may be together, but that doesn't make you have to like me. I said before that all I ask is that you try to be polite in front of Laurent.”

“I don't...dislike you,” Nicaise said slowly, his eyes looking off to the side. “I'm not forcing myself to do all this. I don't have to do anything I don't want to, Laurent tells me that every day. Not that it matters because he still keeps making me learn stupid shit I don't want to learn. But he always lies so what's a few more lies?” 

Damen laughed, relieved. And hopeful that maybe him and Nicaise could have a halfway decent relationship which was all he ever wanted. “I'm glad you like me, then.”

“Hey, I said I didn't dislike you. Not like I'm ready to give you some tearful love confession about how wonderful you are. Don't read into my words and get on with the stupid tour, idiot.”

And so he did. Nicaise seemed less tense, insulting things but complimenting things all the same. For once, it felt comfortable with him. Not forced and not like Nicaise was ready to stab him with any utensil he could get his hands on. When Damen went to bed that night, Laurent by his side reading through some book Damen had suggested in his castle's library, he smiled to him.

“When all of this is over and we can finally do something about living together, you're bringing Nicaise, right?”

Laurent paused in his reading, bookmarking the page he was on and setting it aside. “Of course. There isn't much argument about that. Did your time together with him go well?”

“He called me an idiot about ten times and complained about anything he could think of, but he did say he didn't dislike me and that I had nice gardens here.”

“Congratulations, you've learned to get along with a barely grown teenage boy. You must be very proud of yourself.” But with the way that Laurent was smiling, Damen knew what a huge milestone this was and decided to celebrate with a kiss that turned into another and another.

\- - - - 

Politics were messy and so were weddings and trying to join two countries together. Figuring it all out took much longer than Damen had thought but it had been worth it all to see Laurent and Nicaise on the threshold of their now shared home. A new place where they could leave behind painful memories that Damen never wanted either of them to think of again. They could be happy here and here, they could both start the lives they had always meant to have.

And that, Damen thought, was worth all the headaches he had gone through to get them to this point. To let them finally be free of their past. So he opened his arms and grinned.

“Welcome home.”

**Author's Note:**

> My favorite character was Nicaise and I think my favorite relationship, outside of Damen and Laurent, was Laurent and Nicaise. I really wish we had seen more of them together because they were so alike and understood each other so well. I'm not too happy with this fic, but I really wanted to put out something for Nicaise because bless this boy.


End file.
